He regarded them as young adults, and until this strange crisis he, like the rest of Salem, never
conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak.

"Conceive" also means "become pregnant" and is suggested in the example sentence's focus on children. This pun (along with the description of Reverend Parris as "a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them") makes the adults of Salem seem hypocritical, since they can conceive children, but cannot conceive of them.

Their
creed forbade anything resembling a theater or “vain enjoyment.”

Compare with the antonymous "incredulous" in the list for Act 4. Both words come from the Latin "credere" which means "to believe" but here, the noun "creed" refers to the religious beliefs of all the Salem inhabitants, while the adjective "incredulous" refers to one person's disbelief.

That there were some jokers, however, is indicated by the practice of appointing a two-man patrol whose duty was to “walk forth in the time of God’s worship to take notice of such as either lye about the meeting house, without attending to the word and
ordinances, or that lye at home or in the fields without giving good account thereof, and to take the names of such persons, and to present them to the magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against.”

As suggested by the sentence structure, "ordinance" and "word" are nearly synonymous nouns--"ordinance" refers to the authoritative rules of the Salem community, which are mostly based on the Puritans' interpretations of the authoritative "Word" of God.

It was also, in my opinion, one of the things that a John Proctor would rebel against, for the time of the armed camp had almost passed, and since the country was reasonably--although not wholly--safe, the old disciplines were beginning to
rankle.

The first part of the definition connects more vividly to the Latin origin: "dracunculus" means "small serpent" and in the eyes of the Puritans, if old disciplines rankle, then that could be because the Devil (often connected to the form of a serpent) is gnawing into a person's flesh and soul.

It stood, dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out of it Indian tribes
marauded from time to time, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen.

So now they and their church found it necessary to deny any other sect its freedom; lest their New Jerusalem be
defiled and corrupted by wrong ways and deceitful ideas.

"Defile" and "corrupt" are used synonymously here, although the slight difference that makes "corrupt" seem a stronger verb can be seen in their Latin roots: "fouler" means "to trample" (and connects to the definition "make dirty or spotty") while "corrumpere" means "to destroy" (compare with "corruption" in this list).

Long-held hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s charitable
injunctions.

"Jungere" means "to join"--this Latin root can be seen more clearly in words such as "junction" and "conjunction" but it is hinted at here, since the "injunctions" described are those that are charitable ("showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding and generosity") and that should keep neighbors joined in peaceful harmony. However, similar to "ordinance" in this list, the example sentence focuses on the breaking of commands and rules.

"Begrudge" and "resent" can be synonymous verbs, and both parts of the definition are used here: Abigail wishes ill upon (resent) her uncle, because she thinks he might allow unwillingly (begrudge) the bed in his house on which she sleeps.

He undoubtedly felt it poor payment that the village should so blatantly disregard his candidate for one of its more important offices, especially since he regarded himself as the intellectual superior of most of the people around him.

So it is not surprising to find that so many accusations against people are in the handwriting of Thomas Putnam, or that his name is so often found as a witness
corroborating the supernatural testimony, or that his daughter led the crying-out at the most opportune junctures of the trials, especially when--But we’ll speak of that when we come to it.

Compare with "apprehension" in this list--both states of mind refer to Abigail, and on the surface, suggest that she's worried about her cousin and friend's health. But the phrasing of the question here hints at Abigail's more selfish concern, because her focus is not on how sick Ruth is, but on how Ruth got sick, which could be traced back to their improper activities in the forest.

In Proctor’s presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly--and a Proctor is always marked for
calumny therefore.

Compare with "defamation" in this list--although the chosen definitions are identical, the tone in which each word is used is very different. Here is a serious description of Proctor's character and a foreshadowing of a plot point with the alternative definition ("a false accusation of an offense"). But in speaking to Giles, Proctor is jokingly accusing his friend of accusing him of defamation.

To top it all, Mrs. Putnam--who is now staring at the bewitched child on the bed--soon accused Rebecca’s spirit of “tempting her to
iniquity,” a charge that had more truth in it than Mrs. Putnam could know

Proctor, familiarly, with warmth, although he knows he is approaching the edge of Giles’ tolerance with this: Is it the Devil’s fault that a man cannot say you good morning without you clap him for
defamation?

when we see the steady and methodical
inculcation into humanity of the idea of man’s worthlessness--until redeemed--the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state.

I have no doubt that people were communing with, and even worshiping, the Devil in Salem, and if the whole truth could be known in this case, as it is in others, we should discover a regular and conventionalized
propitiation of the dark spirit.

Compare with "enthrall" in this list--although the given definitions are identical, the Middle English "thral" means "slave" and emphasizes the effect of a belief in the Devil. In Medieval Latin, "raptura" means "ecstasy" and in Latin, "rapere" means "to seize"--both connect to the Christian idea of Rapture, when the saved are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord. Here, Abigail is dissembling, but she is convincing enough to enrapture her observers.

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